Written for Veronica, aka rosefrickingtyler on tumblr. Your Blackinnon Secret Summer present, I hope you like it!
[ AU: Sirius was there when Marlene died. ]
"Sir!" The door was thrown open in its haste, the sound echoing off the walls as the room was immediately silenced at the sudden voice. The Order members that gathered in the room for the meeting turned their heads in unison, all stock-still.
In the doorway, the last person anyone would expect to shout and interrupt a meeting stood. Alice Longbottom, with her short brown hair mussed greatly and her eyes wide alert, had her wand clutched in her hand. "Sir," she repeated urgently at Dumbledore, who was at the front of the room. She seemed to forget entirely that she was usually the quiet, even if incredibly brave, one of the group; she was the one that was calm and level-headed in situations. But at this moment, her soft voice was loudly desperate and cut through the thick silence.
"What has happened, Mrs. Longbottom?" Dumbledore said briskly, not unkindly. He was already stood up from his seat, striding over towards her.
"McKinnons," she panted, the words coming out in a rush. The whole room was paying attention, but a certain Black's face has drained of blood and could feel his skin turning to ice. "They're at the McKinnons, around twenty of them. They were tearing through the town towards their house before I left, Frank's staying with some of the other Order members already there to help as the family out; Marlene's already helping fight, with her older brother and one of her sister's to get the younger ones out. But they're not going to last, there's so many of the Death Eaters, unless we help them-"
Dumbledore's eyes had clouded over while she spoke, but he put a hand on her shoulder to stop her shaking. Sobs were already wrecking through her body, though she did her best to steady them. "We must head off straight away then."
Everyone in the room began to stand up, grabbing their wands, but Dumbledore shook his head.
"You can't all go," he said sternly, "We will get them to safety, but we can't risk all of you. Half of you stay here, I'll take the rest with me. Volunteers?" At least three-quarters of the room put their hands up. "Longbottom, Prewett, Prewett, Lupin; come with me."
The last name had barely been uttered before Sirius Black had shoved his way forward, his eyes blazing and a determined, pained look on his face. "Sir, I wish to go on this one."
"Mr. Black, I cannot allow-"
"Sir." Sirius looked at the older man right in the eye, and his mouth was set in a grimace. "I wasn't asking. With all due respect, I am putting myself in this mission, whether you approve or not."
Dumbledore stared down at him for a split-moment, but he turned away, the ones that he called out following in his wake. "Fine, but stay in line, Mr. Black. We can't afford to lose anyone else."
There was a brief silence as his last words hung in the air. Though they all hated to think of it, he was right - Mary MacDonald, for one, had been a death that hit them all hard. It was broken by Dumbledore leading the five out of the room, and there were several cracks as they all apparated away.
Chaos was the only word to describe what Sirius first saw when their feet reunited with the ground. The McKinnon house that he had grown so accustomed to visiting was set ablaze, a fire roaring across one side of it. Rubble was already scattered around the home, and chunks of the remaining brick left standing were torn out, probably blasted by spells. A line of defence Order members stood in front of the house; one was trying to desperately to quench the flames, but it was fruitless. Several bodies layed scattered around, but Sirius was too far to make them out. His first initial thought was the panic that one of them were Marlene - but his eyes had swivelled around quickly to spot her at the far end, her wand out as she duelled a Death Eater.
Frank Longbottom was the closest to the new group of reinforcements, duelling two masked Death Eaters on his own, and Alice rushed forward to give her husband a hand. It only took Dumbledore a split-second decision before he headed straight for the house, where a couple more Death Eaters were still attacking it. The Prewett twins had already begun shooting their own spells at the crowd of Death Eaters- it was simply impossible to tell how many there were, but it was clear there were more than they expected. The air was filled with screams - from the house, Sirius realised - and yells of curses being thrown around. Without a second thought, Sirius headed straight for Marlene, who was fighting her hardest against her Death Eater.
"Padfoot-!" he heard Remus call behind him urgently.
"Help the others!" he shouted back over his shoulder. "Make sure the younger ones are all out safely first!"
Sirius only had time to see Remus' face pale, but he ran straight on, firing spells to the side of him. He ducked stray curses, the closest skimming the top of his ear. His running paced faster when he was close enough to see Marlene's face, close enough to see her Death Eater send a green jet that was only an inch from her face. He raised his wand again as he ran, but he tripped on something that sent him collapsing forward. Sirius' head whipped to what he had fallen over and his feet slipped beneath him. Blood was the first thing that registered when he looked down, the second being the body he had tripped over. In horror, he realised he recognised the face of the fallen.
Eleven-year-old Rebecca McKinnon. Marlene's sweet younger sister, who could barely eat meat without thinking of dead animals and was waiting for her Hogwarts letter since she knew what it was, on the floor with cold eyes and blood spilling from a head wound. Already dead.
Sirius resisted the urge to vomit and got up hastily, scrambling away from her. He felt bile fill his throat and he ran on ahead, blanking the image of the poor girl as he neared Marlene. Her back was to him as she duelled, and he ducked a green jet of light before sending a Stunning spell of his own to knock the Death Eater down.
Surprised, Marlene whirled around to face him. Her hair looked as if she had tied it up in haste, but strands were falling out and it looked as if half of her hair had already been pulled out forcibly. A large gash was cut from the bottom of her left eye, straight down her cheek. Her eyes were wide and alert, but he could see the tear streaked stains already.
"Sirius!" she yelled loudly and he managed to summon a half-grin.
"Alright there, McKinnon?" he shouted back, yet he couldn't shake the image of her dead sister.
"I'm- duck!" she screamed abruptly and instincts made him crouch as she shot a spell over his head. He straightened up again and they weaved their way through people, shooting spells at Death Eaters that they could reach. "Have you seen my family? Did they all get out?"
Sirius winced, muttering a jinx to his left. "Mark's over there-!" He nodded to her older brother, who was duelling a Death Eater on the other side of the house. Sirius saw Marlene's gaze trail helplessly at her burning house. "-And Melanie's there!" She tore her eyes from her childhood home to her older sister. The older girl was being treated medical aid by Remus as she was propped against a tree, away from the fighting. He opened his mouth to deliver more bad news, to tell her that there were still some left in the house, but he couldn't bring himself to.
"Did the rest all get out?" Marlene repeated, dodging a red jet of light automatically. "Tell me they're all safe, Sirius, tell me!"
He couldn't lie to her, he knew he couldn't. Not now, not when everything was happening right this moment. "Rebecca, she-"
"No!" Marlene saw the look in his eye, knew what he was going to tell her. Tears ran down her face as she screamed wildly. "No, no, no! Black, tell me you're lying, do it! Tell me she's still alive! Tell me!"
"Marlene, she's gone." He shot another Stunning spell at a nearby Death Eater but his own shoulders sunk as he looked at her grief-stricken face. "I saw her. We need to-"
"Where is she?" Marlene demanded. "Take me to her! Show me!"
Sirius looked at her helplessly, but he grabbed her arm with his free hand and he retraced their footsteps until he found the body once again. It had been dragged further to the side, hidden away from the destruction, but the little girl was still dead, still soaked in her own blood.
"Rebecca..." Marlene sobbed, as she collapsed to her knees next to her. She reached out to touch her body, but her hands came back stained with blood. Sirius' eyes flitted away from the scene, feeling his own tears building up in his eyes. With Marlene's defences down, he raised his own wand as he kept an eye out. They were far from the fighting, but not far enough. If a Death Eater realised they were there, it only took a matter of seconds for them to run towards them. A loud scream ripped through the air further down and the noise jolted Marlene back into reality.
"We need to get back," she said shakily. Her sleeves wiped her eyes and some blood of her face before grabbing her wand off the ground. "I need to check the other are all-"
"Well, what do we have here?"
Sirius' eyes shot up immediately, meeting the malicious ones of none other than Bellatrix Lestrange. His eyes hardened and he raised his wand.
"My blood traitor cousin," she spat the word, her own wand twirling in her hand, "and his blood traitor girlfriend."
"Fuck off," Sirius hissed back between gritted teeth.
"That's no way to treat family now, is it?" Bellatrix said sarcastically, her lips upturned in a cruel smirk.
"We were never family, Lestrange," he sneered back and he felt Marlene rustle beside him. Before he could stop her, she had sent a Stunning spell straight at the older woman.
Bellatrix blocked it with ease and threw her own curse back at her. Marlene barely dodged it and it caught her lip. She spat out a mouthful of blood as Bellatrix laughed. "Did you honestly think that would work, little girl? I'm the Dark Lord's most loyal lieutenant, it would take more than a weak Stunning curse to get me down." To prove her point, she sent a blasting spell back at Marlene, which caused her to smack backwards into the tree behind her. "It was family business, you blood traitor bitch, you should've stayed out of it. But now I think of it, you McKinnons was why we came in the first place."
Sirius snarled and made his way towards Marlene, who was rubbing her head and groaning. A body-binding curse was sent his way and his reflexes would've kicked in, but Bellatrix was a woman on a mission and much, much quicker. With a last growl, he toppled over head-first as he struggled helplessly against the spell.
"You'll watch as I kill her," Bellatrix hissed in his ear as she passed him. Her eyes were dark, deranged. She turned back to Marlene, making her way towards her with a sadistic smile.
"Sirius!" Marlene screamed when she saw him lying on the floor, but she got back up, her wand in her hand as she pointed it at Bellatrix. She might be an excellent duellist, Sirius knew, but she was nothing compared to his older cousin.
"Oh, don't worry, I'm not going to kill your boyfriend," Bellatrix said mockingly. Her words were followed by her own cackle. "No, letting him see your pain is much more satisfying." Marlene hurled a Disarming spell but Bellatrix flicked her hand so it flew right back at her, causing the offender's wand to skid out of sight. Marlene growled irritably, her fists clenching to her sides. "You see, this is much more fun. Crucio!" The spell shot out of the end of her wand, and Marlene barely held back her scream as it hit her on her stomach.
Sirius attempted to pull his eyes away from the scene, trying to make his body move. "Bellatrix, leave her alone!"
"No, I don't think I will," Bellatrix replied and her eyes turned hard again as she shrieked the curse again thrill-fully. The spell hit Marlene again and this time she was brought to her knees. She hardly had enough time to stand up again with her recovering body before the spell struck her again.
"Bella, let's go!" a faraway voice cried from the other side of the field and the woman turned her head to see her companions finally leaving.
"I killed your mother, you know," she said to Marlene, who was on the floor and clutching her side. She gave her a sadistic smile. "She screamed, that one. And I got one of your sisters too- scum, all of you. But I guess I could say I got three of your family, though I never got around to checking who was still in the house when I set it on fire."
Marlene spat a mouthful of blood at her feet, her eyes strained from the tears. "Go to hell, you bitch."
"I'm sending you there," she hissed back and her wand rose again. Sirius knew what was happening before she said the words and he had yelled a loud "No!" before the green light hit the ex-Gryffindor. Bellatrix laughed again and she kicked Marlene's lifeless body on to her back as she passed, giving Sirius a last smirk before she Apparated away into the night. And still he could not move, only stare into the dead body in front of him, the whole time his mouth opening and closing to repeat the same word.
"No, no, no..."